The Direction of the Class

So far, I'm really enjoying this class. It's sort of difficult for me to pick out weak points because overall I think it's been pretty great. However, I do think I can come up with some suggestions as to make it even better, hopefully.

I think some of the strong points of the class are the blogs, and the system of small and large group discussions. I think they're pretty effective ways of getting everybody thinking about the material in some ways that maybe they hadn't considered when first reading it.

First off, i'm not going to name any names, but I think the class discussion has been dominated by a few people and has not been inclusive enough. This could be the fault of the class at large for not speaking up enough, but whatever the cause of it is, I think we need to establish some sort of system to make sure that everybody's input is being heard by the rest of the class, besides just with the blogs.

I also think that it would be a good idea to analyze more outside sources related to what we're reading. I thought that reading the article about Ward's Stranger translation and the Myth of Sisyphus gave me some helpful insight into some philosophical points related to The Stranger and Albert Camus. It would be really enlightening to get other perspectives on the texts we read.

Camus and Voltaire are voting for...

I think as far as Camus is concerned this is a trick question. Camus is a bit of an absurdist, so I don't think he would cast his vote at all. He sees certain acts that society values as meaningful as essentially meaningless. Existance is absurd, and whether or not he votes won't make a huge difference in the long run. He is one man and the act of him voting doesn't mean anything or serve any purpose. Or at least that's would I believe he would think.
As for Voltaire, he has often satarized the lives of rich men and people who are born into wealth and nobility. Mitt Romney fits this bill pretty well. I also think that Voltaire was more into the idea of power in people to choose and against the government having too much power and controlling people. Voltaire also, though religious himself, chastised the church and religion constantly for being hypocrtical. This would probably cause him to be more likely to vote Democrat, because they have less of a history of letting their religion govern their politics and of hipocrisy, though this is present for both parties. Voltaire would most likely vote for President Obama but view him as the lesser of two evils.

Our Stranger Meaning

This is probably the hardest sounding blog I've had to write for this class. The meaning of life? Yeesh. But I guess when taken at a more individual level the question becomes easier to swallow. What gives my life meaning? I guess I haven't given it too much thought before know. I've sat here considering it and it's kind of hard to put into words. I think for most people life is about personal fullfillment whether this comes from helping others, or pleasure, or financial success, or whatever. For me there are a few things that give me personal fullfillment, but I think the main one is closeness to nature. That sounds silly coming from someone who lives in Chicago and takes the subway to school every day, but it's true. Not to mention that I haven't always lived in this "concrete jungle". For me, I may not think about it all the time, but some of the most "meaningful" moments of my life have been standing on top of peaks, or in the midst of redwoods, or wading through a river. I mean, everyone agrees that certain places and aspects of nature are beautiful, but I feel like there's nothing that makes me feel more fullfilled than nature. It amazes more than just in its beauty.  It's part of the reason why I think I want to be an environmental scientist, I want to be closer to what I love and what gives me meaning. I'm not exactly sure why its so fullfilling and meaningful to me, but what I know is that it makes me content and at peace on a level that nothing else has, and it's immensely important to me, so I suppose it's the closest thing to meaning that I can think of.

Does Candide's Punishment Fit the Crime?

In this post I'll focus on one of Candide's first punishments, which he recieved from the bulgar army after attempting to run away. They gave him the choice of being flogged many times by the entire army or being shot in the head. Foolish, naive Candide chose the flogging over the short quick death. This, of course, turned out to be a mistake and Candide begged for death after only a short while. The punishment that Candide recieved from the Bulgars was not appropriate to the crime. It was much too harsh. It shows the brutish nature of war and the army that Voltaire belives and is trying to point out. Later in the story, Candide almost gets burned at an auto-de-fe in Portugal by clergy members. That punishment obviously did not fit the crime (Candide didn't even really have a crime), and it is included because Voltaire is trying to point out the hypocrisy in institutionalized religion (yet again).

How Do I Know What I Know?

My immediate thought when I read the title of this blog was of Death. Death is something I knew about and understood only vaguely after I found out about it at some point in my childhood. However, it was always a distant concept, and one that only affected my loosely and indirectly, if at all. I didn't think about it much, and I can't even remember the point where I found out about Death, and how it is inexorable for everybody. In trying to remember the point that this realization occurred, I was reminded of this quote from the book Wicked, where the Wicked Witch's son (possibly), Liir, is questioned by the mean-spirited children of Fiyero's widow, Sarima (and possibly his half-siblings) on the roof of the castle of Kiamo Ko:

***

"Is the broom magic?" said Manek to Liir.

"Yes. It can sweep the floor real fast." 

"Can it talk? Is it enchanted? What does it say?"
They got more interested, and Liir bloomed and blushed under their curiosity. "I can't tell. It's a secret."

"Is it still a secret if we push you off the tower?"
Liir considered. "What do you mean?"

"Will you tell us or we'll do it."

"Don't push me off the tower, you oafs."

"If the broom is magic it'll come flying by and save you. Besides, you're so fat you'll probably bounce."

Irji and Nor laughed at that, despite themselves. It made a very funny picture in their minds.

"We only want to know what secrets the broom says to you," said Manek with a big smile. "So tell us. Or we'll push you off."

...

Liir's face had, in a matter of moments, developed deep black pockets under the eyes. He held his hands down by his sides like a traitor at a court marshall. "The Witch'll be so mad at you that she'll hate you."

"I don't think so," said Manek, taking a step forward. "She won't care. She likes the monkey more than she likes you. She won't even notice if you're dead." 

Liir gasped for air. Although he had just peed, the front of his baggy trousers turned dark with wet. "Look, Irji," said Manek, and his older brother looked. "He's not even very good at being alive, is he? It's not like he's even very good at being alive is he? It's not like it would be much of a loss. Come on, Liir, tell me. What did the damned broom say to you?"

Liir's upper torso was going in and out like a bellows. He whispered, "The broom told me--that--that--you're all going to die!"

"Oh, is that all," said Manek. "We already knew that. Everybody dies. We knew that already."

"You did?" said Liir, who hadn't. 

"Come on," said Irji, "come on, let's catch some mice in the pantry and we can cut off their tails and use Nor's magic straw to prick their eyes."

***

That passage had always been really striking to me. The fact that Liir, who had grown up for seven years with only the silent and sullen Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and a community of Unionist Maunts for company, had simply no idea that everybody died. Then, confronted with the information gathered from the broom, and the prospect of his own death, he was forced into this realization. In the sequel, Son of  a Witch, this realization is solidified seven years later by the experience of Elphaba's death in the hands of the stranger Dorothy. This is the first time that Liir is coming into contact with Death, the first time that somebody he is at least sort of closed to, or somebody he depends on, is really gone. Although the other inhabitants of the castle (the children, Sarima, and her five sisters) had been captured earlier by the Wizard's army, he at least had some hope of their return.

Liir's experience shows that there are basically two ways that we gain information. We can learn it by first hand experience, or we can learn it by what we're told, or second hand experience. In Liir's case, it was both, and I think that's how it goes for a lot of people with knowledge, especially Death. A better title for this blog would be How Do I Understand What I Know?, really. We know what we know from what we're told at a young age. It's not until we grow older and experience things for ourselves, until life happens to us, that we can fully understand what we know.

In my case, I didn't fully grasp the notion of imminent Death until my cousin died earlier this year. She passed away after losing a long battle with heroin addiction. She was 24 and died alone in a motel room, leaving behind a husband and four children. Her funeral was the first that i've ever cried at.

Her death was jolting for me. I felt like Liir, bewildered, wide eyed, trying to make sense of unexpected  and frankly terrifying events. Except I didn't pee my pants. 

The unexamined life is not worth living? and a modern day gadfly

Or so says Socrates. According to him, if you aren't constantly asking the big philosophical questions about life, and specifically your life, then what are you even doing still? Your life has no purpose. He didn't exactly say it in those words, but still. This is his argument for why we should all have philosophy, and all be questioning and examining. While I think that it's true that become more knowledgable and understanding things more fully sometimes leads to a more fulfilling life, I still do think that ignorance is bliss. Being happy with your lot in life and never questioning anything probably isn't morally satisfying for a lot of people. However, if it is, I say knock yourself out. I think a lot of us kind of wish we could be living in ignorance. Because while knowledge is power, a lot of the time it is also pain. I understand, however, that this isn't exactly what Socrates meant. He knows it can be painful, he shows that with the story he originally spoke of (although Plato wrote it down, yes), the Allegory of the Den. He knows that the unexamined life can be blissful and content, but it's still not worth living when you're not actually experiencing "Truth". But I'd still take contentedness over truth any day. Maybe one's existence is only a shadow of reality, but if it's a happy existence, I think it's worth living, and the choice of whether or not that person wants to take the risk of experiencing what is true and shaking that existence to the ground is their choice.

Okay, now for the second question. Who do I think is a modern-day gadfly? I suppose the person in my life who would most resemble that would be my father. Which is probably a sort of generic answer but I mean really, he's always questioning my brothers and I. He wants to make sure we're not blindly assuming or believing things that we haven't fully examined. Whenever I make a large statement about my beliefs or philosophy or otherwise, I become subject to thorough questioning and challenging from my father. It can be annoying sometimes, and it can shake me when he asks a question that I don't know how to answer, and then I have to rethink that statement. However, it's one of those "you'll thank me for this one day" deals, I'm pretty sure. It's caused me to be more wary of everything I'm told and everything I tell others.

Eulogy

So, we're all gathered here to mourn the loss of one Andrea Wilberding. But not really, since I'm writing this in present tense so it won't sound like much of a eulogy. Anyway. She goes by Andy and is a high school senior. Anyone who met her freshman year knows that she was exceedingly annoying during that time so we're going to pretend that that whole year didn't exist. Anyhow, what can I say about her? She has a number of passions, the strongest of these most likely being music. Music has always been very important to her, and she's been playing viola for almost 8 years now and is acceptable on a few other instruments, like violin and guitar. Listening to music is something that she does whenever she's not playing music. Another one of her passions is concerning the outdoors. She's been backpacking since she was eight and has hiked and backpacked in a number of different states. She's spent most of her childhood and young adulthood reading. She may not have had many friends when she was young, but it was pretty much just because she liked books a lot better than real people. Nowadays she still reads frequently (although she likes people a little more now-seriously, I'm friendly, I promise). If she had to choose a favorite book it would probably come down to Wicked by Gregory Maguire or American Gods by Neil Gaiman. She lives on the south side of Chicago and has two parents, two younger brothers, and a dog (She loves the dog the most). She's a bit of a nerd (well, more than a bit) when it comes to certain topics, like literature, science, and music. She's heavily involved in GSA and various other queer rights-related activities. Other things she enjoys but probably wouldn't be considered passions include certain video games, laughing at sketch comedy shows and bad 70s sitcoms, watching shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and, funnily enough, blogging. I guess this post ended up sounded more like some sort of weird internet dating site description than a eulogy...which is less than desirable but it's pretty hard to write a eulogy about yourself in the third person present tense. So there we have it.